Adaptive Bike Camping

Bike Camping for Everyone!

OOFD board member and volunteer Bradley Fisher touring with daughter Lilia in the beautiful mountains near Coeur D'alene, Idaho

Enjoying the campfire at the camp out at the South Shore Cultural Center

Bike camping with an OOFD adaptive tandem bike on Chicago's lakefront with KEEN Chicago

Out Our Front Door believes that everyone deserves a life filled with adventure, exploration, and immersion into our natural world. That includes people with disabilities. We are excited to have started a first of it’s kind Adaptive Bike Camping program for people with disabilities!

Since the founder of this program, OOFD board member Bradley Fisher, first began to find ways for his daughter to continue cycling with their family and friends, he knew he wanted to share these kinds of experiences with other families like his. The ideas was simple - for everyone in a "special needs family" to be able to experience an adventure in the great outdoors together, and not siloed off into separate activities just for children with disabilities. Learn more about the incredible inspiration behind this program in Bradley's appearance on the Bike Minds storytelling event.

2021

This program launched in 2021 with generous support from the Thumbuddy Special Foundation. Out Our Front Door in partnership with Adaptive Adventures led 3 short day rides with mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings, and friends, some with disabilities, as we all rode together as one big family.

We rode at Busse Woods, Skokie Lagoons, and Northerly Island for some practice rides. We then culminated with the big camp out at the beautiful South Shore Cultural Center and proved to ourselves and the world that that “special needs families” and children with disabilities can safely and enjoyably have amazing bike camping adventures out in our natural world.

2022

In 2022, we ran a really unique program in partnership with Emily Oaks Nature Center with help from a Skokie Community Foundation grant. It was a week long summer camp filled with bike rides, nature education, and culminated in an overnight bike camping trip to Camp Dan Beard.

One of our big success stories from this Summer's adaptive program is a boy named Eli. He has a rare genetic disorder which makes riding on his own not quite possible. He absolutely LOVED biking, and after the program his family bought a great used Hase Pino. The family joined us for part of the overnight ride, and they are planning to come on at least one of our family rides in 2023.

2023

We continued to develop our values of Welcoming and Radical Inclusivity by making our Family Bike Camping Program accessible to families with a youth with an adaptive need, with 3 "adaptive families" on each of our 4 Family Bike Camping Trips. We then partnered with KEEN Chicago for a bike camping trip at Northerly Island with 8 families all with youth with a developmental disability.

Our fleet of adaptive bike grew especially through a new partnership with Charlotte's Tandems which work to loan tandem bikes so people with disabilities can enjoy a bike ride.

Benefits of Adaptive Bike Camping:

Fully inclusive adaptive sports activity that does not segregate the person with a disability, but rather provides an opportunity to engage in fun and healthy activities with their family, friends, and others they will meet along the way. We all ride together!
Increased confidence that comes from embracing adventure and our natural world.
Improved health, fitness, and well-being, and avoiding the negative physical and mental health consequences that people with disabilities suffer at greater rates than the general population.

Thanks to our partners from Chicago Park District's Family Camping Program which provided the crucial camping gear for the ride as well as the secured campsite. We will continue to explore and camp on some of Chicago's most beautiful bike paths and amazing natural habitats right here in Chicago, out our front door.

Are you a special needs family that enjoys biking together? Then keep us on your radar. This program will continue to grow, and we will continue our to live out our values to be radically inclusive and welcoming to all riders.

The whole crew heading out for a ride on the lake front path during our first camp out!

Learn more about our Adaptive Bike Program with these inspired blogs and stories:

Thank you to our amazing Adaptive Bike Camping Program partners:

Camping at Northerly Island as dawn emerges

KEEN Chicago

Chicago Park District Family Camping Program